


Forced Along Strict Paths

by Cookies_and_Chaos



Category: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens
Genre: Gen, Period Typical Attitudes, Period-Typical Sexism, Racism, Sexism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28692813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cookies_and_Chaos/pseuds/Cookies_and_Chaos
Summary: After all, it still didn't matter how exceptional they were because the world saw them just as girls. Set just after Mistletoe and Murder. Written for the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020, Day 11, "Eleven Dark Tunnels".
Kudos: 7
Collections: 12 Days of Christmas Challenge 2020





	Forced Along Strict Paths

The train shuddered to a halt, right in the middle of the tunnel. I waited for a minute, expecting an announcement, and then looked over to Daisy for an explanation only to find her fast asleep with her book clutched tightly in her hand. She hadn't slept properly for weeks, perhaps not even since the Fallingford incident, so I left her to her rest while I sat in the dark and waited for someone to tell us what was going on. It only seemed fitting after the Christmas that we had just had, that we would be stuck on a broken down train with no explanation.

Perhaps there were cows on the track. That seemed like something that might happen in England.

Unable to continue rereading my casebook, I set it aside. Something had been bothering me the entire train journey and as much as I had tried to put it out of my mind, it persisted. So I resigned myself to pondering upon it since I had little else to occupy myself with. It was something Amanda had said, which had in turn been echoed in sentiment by Aunt Eustacia and even Daisy herself. That it didn't matter what we did, how clever we were, what we could achieve, or, in mine and Daisy's particular case, how many crimes we solved, when the world looked upon us, all four, they saw women and girls and started applying all of their limitations then and there.

I suppose I had always known that would be the case, accepted it in a way, but I had at least hoped that things would be a little different once we were older. Daisy talked that way often enough, _'When we're older, we shall open our own detective's agency and then the world will see just what we can do,'_ and I had believed her. Then again, I had believed that I would be able to go to university. King Henry had, after all. But even there, it wasn't the same for women as for men. Amanda and Eustacia had opened my eyes to the reality that the world might only ever let me feel like I was playing at university, playing at study, playing at a career... Women could, after all, become spinsters or bluestockings (Daisy told me that this wasn't meant to be a nice description, though the women it applied to were stolidly retaking the phrase as their own) or they could find a husband and settle down to make a home and family, and little else was deemed acceptable. There were those who stepped outside the lines and forged new paths but I wasn't altogether sure that was a destiny which would apply to me.

At the university, it had just been so easy for us to be thrown out of what was deemed a 'man's world' and though it was only a part of the competition, I couldn't help feel a small twinge of resentment towards Alexander and George (I surprised myself with it, actually, I had never resented Alexander for anything before). They had known that they could bar us on account of being girls, that we could be shoved asides on a boy's word, and have no recourse for a comeback. 

Daisy had been irritated at the time but by now had probably filed and dismissed the events, deciding, as she often did, that such things wouldn't apply to her when she was older. Maybe they wouldn't. Daisy had a habit of bucking trends and defying what society decided for her, and she had the privilege to do that, at least here in England. My family's money was never going to convince people over here to treat me like they would Daisy and she wouldn't see that. Even though she had seen glimmers of the racism and bigotry, I still didn't know if she really understood. If she ever could. After all, Daisy lived in a world where movements like the suffragettes in America would fight vehemently for the rights of girls and women like her and she couldn't understand my doubts that similar groups would do the same for me.

The train lurched back into movement and Daisy awoke with a start. 

"Watson?"

"The train just stopped for a bit," I said, having to work hard to keep any bitterness from my tone. I wasn't sure that I had succeeded but I couldn't make out Daisy's expression until after the train left the tunnel and by then there was nothing to see.

"Shall we plays cards? Bertie gave me a pack before we left," Daisy suggested.

She knew there was something bothering me. Daisy Wells did not suggest something as mundane as a card game just for the fun of it. I nodded and let her deal out the cards, watching her to try and deduce if this was mere distraction or an opportunity for me to pour out the thoughts that were bothering me so.

With the last card dealt, I made my choice. Daisy might not understand, not completely, but that didn't mean I should feel like I couldn't talk about it.

"I've been thinking about some things which were said over Christmas..."


End file.
